The amount of data you can store on your hard drive is a precious resource and one of the important features you check on the list when buying your new Mac. But what to do when your Mac storage is almost full? You can go to 'About This Mac' to see how your memory is distributed in your machine. In this article we will tell you about how to manage storage on Mac.
The Info window shows the capacity, available space, and used space, as well as other information. Option 4: About This Mac In recent versions of macOS (Yosemite or later), you can easily check. It's recommended that you keep at least 15-20% of your Mac's memory free to keep it running smoothly. Optimizing storage is an efficient way to do this. But there are also several other steps you can take to free up space on MacBook Air, Pro, or any other macOS device. Press Command + F key and tap on 'This Mac'. On the top menu bar select the first icon and tap on 'Other' from drop down list. Now in the file window select 'File Extension' and 'File Size' columns so. First, click on the 'Apple' menu in the upper-left corner of the screen and select 'About This Mac.' In the window that pops up, click on the 'Storage' button. (Depending on your macOS version, this may look like a tab instead of a button).
You Need to Know About The Types of Storage on Your Mac First
The drive storage on your Mac can be categorized into three types depending on where the files are placed and what applications use them. In order to understand how you can manage MacBook storage optimally, you need to understand what these storages are and what files are included in it. The three categories are discussed below:
1. System Storage
Macbook System storage includes all the files on your Mac which are required by the operating system to load and run properly. Your macOS is also stored in your System storage along with startup applications and system update files. The files on this storage include important files for your system to function properly to the system logs and junk files your MacOS keeps for system troubleshooting or maintenance.
2. Other Storage
Even when you didn't read about System storage before this, you probably had an idea that these files are on your Mac for something related to the ‘System'. But the really confusing part is where you see Other storage. The storage bar almost lists everything I can ever put on my Mac; like photos, movies, audios, apps, system, so I have always wondered what is Others and how can I clear all the space which is occupied by Others. We can simply say that all the other files you have on your mac which cannot be listed in the above titles, they go to others. The others may include any documents, zipped archives, temporary files, etc.
3. Purgeable Storage
Apfs to mac os journaled. Purgeable storage is part of macOS storage management to intelligently handle the storage on your machine. MacOS makes use of iCloud storage in most efficient manner and limits the actual amount of data on your disk. Your Mac storage optimization feature identifies these files as safe to delete from the system. This is either because the files haven't been used in a very long time, or copy of these files have been placed in the Cloud storage and they can be deleted from the Mac storage.
How Do You Check Storage on your Mac
You can easily check the status of your Mac storage in your Mac OS X system information depending on the macOS version you are using.
macOS 10.7 or Later
To check the storage details in MacOS 10.7 or later. Go to About This Mac in Apple Menu and click More Info. Here you can see different tabs, click Storage. You should be able to see this window.
macOS 10.6 or Earlier
- For macOS 10.6 or earlier versions, you can see your disk space using Finder. Open a new Finder window and select your disk drive in the sidebar.
- Now go to File and click Get Info, you should see the following window.
Now, that you know what your storage space looks like, you are probably thinking how to manage my storage on Mac?
The answer is pretty simple as there are three options available with you to manage Macbook storage space by using your operating system applications, third-party applications, and manual hacks. We will discuss all of them in detail.
Use All-in-one Tool to Manage Storage on Your Mac (Free Up 40% Disk Space)
However, your Mac OS applications will give you minimum control over the space you can free up by letting you clean your Trash or some of the unneeded files. The better way to do that is to use a third-party application like Umate Mac Cleaner.
Umate Mac Cleaner is designed to clean up more than 40 types of junk files piling up in your Mac storage. It will automatically scan your Mac storage to detect any unnecessary junk file which can be deleted safely from your system. You can select from 2 cleaning modes; Quick Clean or Deep Clean. With a single click, Umate Mac Cleaner will remove all the unwanted files to make storage space on your MacBook with the features - Clean Up Junk. Another feature of the application is Manage Apps and Extensions, it can uninstall unused applications and remove unnecessary extensions on the Mac to make more space available. The advantages and steps of using Umate Mac Cleaner are shown below. You will love it like most of Mac users!
Step 1. Install and launch Umate Mac Cleaner.
Step 2. Click the Scan button on the Clean up Junk part. Select unwanted files and click Clean to free up more storage space.
If you want to manage your storage on Mac and free up more space, you can also perform the feature - Manage Apps & Extensions.
Step 1. Choose 'Manage Apps & Extensions' tab and click the 'View Items' respectively on 'Uninstall Apps' and 'Remove Extensions' for loading all the apps and extensions on your Mac.
Step 2. After scanning, just choose those unneeded apps and extensions and delete them in a flash.
Or You Can Manage Storage on Mac Manually with These 9 Ways, Maybe Time-Consuming
We are listing down some manual ways you can use to manage your Mac storage. However, they are time-consuming and not so effective on managing storage, so we don't recommend that. Anyway, you can still take a look at them and follow the steps.
Way 1: Default Mac Storage Management Tools in macOS Sierra
MacOS 10.12 Sierra has built-in features for Mac storage management to free up space in your MacBook. You can go to Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> Manage to see the list of options you can choose from.
- Store in iCloud
- Optimize Storage
- Empty Trash Automatically
- Reduce Clutter
Way 2: Delete System Files And Temporary Files
The operating system continuously creates system logs and cache files which are essential for the system operation and necessary for troubleshooting of any problem your mac faces. These files are of temporary nature and their purpose is time limited, but they usually don't get deleted from the system right away. These files keep piling up and eventually take up a lot of space on your Mac. Cleaning up these types of files is a good storage to manage Macbook storage.
To delete these files, you can go to the system folder location ‘~/Users/User/Library/Application Support/'. Here you can manually delete the temporary files of the application which are using a lot of space. However, manually deleting these files still run a risk of any important file being deleted. Try using Umate Mac Cleaner for this purpose.
Way 3: Clean Downloads Folder
The Downloads folder is where everything on your mac is stored and this is the largest folder on anyone's computer (Size-wise). Naturally, this is your default location and you hardly ever feel like moving files from here. After a certain time, you end up with a lot of files (which you probably don't even remember what you downloaded for) taking up more than 50 percent of your storage space. The best way is to go through this folder periodically and delete any file which is no longer required.
Way 4: Delete Time Machine Local Backups
MacOS 10.13 High Sierra comes loaded with Time Machine. A system application that creates local snapshots in case you need to restore data without the backup disk. You can delete older snapshots to free up space on your mac. Open Terminal.app from Utilities and then type the following commands
- su root
- sudo su
- tmutils listlocalsnapshots
- tmutils deletelocalsnapshots (filename)
Way 5: Remove Plugins and Extensions from Apps on Your Mac
Application plugins and web browser extensions are installed automatically in the application packages or as a part of webpage. However, you must clean these to avoid any unnecessary trouble with the system. And you also get the space of your storage cleaned up in the process. To remove extensions;
- Goto browser preferences (Safari, Chrome, Firefox).
- Find the tab labeled Extension.
- Remove unnecessary extensions from the browser.
Way 6: Remove Storage-eating or Unused Apps
Any file on your system which has not been used for a longer period of time is just eating up the storage space on your Mac. There is one quick hack to sort out what files are taking up the largest space and delete any unnecessary items. Check the Applications installed (Arrange the applications according to Size to give you a better idea about space management). Also, you can search Download folder for any unwanted and old file taking up a lot of space. App music mac. This is definitely an efficient way to manage storage on your Mac and free up more space!
Way 7: Delete Mail Attachments
The email attachments are downloaded on your Mac for viewing offline. These attachments start stacking up on your disk storage. Therefore it is a good practice to periodically delete large attachments with your mail. Search you Mail and in View, select Sort by and list the received mail according to Attachment. Select and delete unwanted mail attachments.
Way 8: Find and Delete Large Files
To manually search and delete large files, you can use the basic features of the Spotlight in your Mac.
- Open a new Finder window, press Command + F.
- In the search field, click on Kind > Other, and choose File Size.
- Select the ‘is greater than' filter and enter the file size (e.g.; 100 MB)
Way 9. Add External Storage
The mechanical spinning hard drives are getting cheaper every day, and this makes the option of carrying an external disk drive a very affordable solution. You can find a 1 TB Hard drive supported by USB 3.0 in between the range of $50 - $80, easily. By moving your large files and the files which you do not need all the time to your external storage, your storage management becomes a lot comfortable.
Final Thought
The manual space management can take up a lot of your time in digging through millions of bytes of data. Using the powerful Umate Mac Cleaner to manage storage on Macbook will do this for you in just a few clicks and your Mac becomes as good as new. So easy!
What is the Other on my iPhone storage? The Other space takes up 5.9GB memory on iPhone capacity, how can I remove it and release the space?
Switch to New iPhone
If your iPhone is running on iOS 8.3 or higher, and you want to find out 'Documents and Data' on your iPhone storage and delete them, you can move to this article: How to Delete Documents and Data on iPhone >
Symptom: Frankly I rarely cared about the free space on my iPhone until it ran out today and my iPhone warned me to release some space. The first thing that I was considering was to delete some large game Apps. But when I connected to my computer, I noticed that an 'Other' bar was consuming 5.9 GB of my iPhone's 13.57 GB. Does anyone know what the Other means on my iPhone?
Step 2. Click the Scan button on the Clean up Junk part. Select unwanted files and click Clean to free up more storage space.
If you want to manage your storage on Mac and free up more space, you can also perform the feature - Manage Apps & Extensions.
Step 1. Choose 'Manage Apps & Extensions' tab and click the 'View Items' respectively on 'Uninstall Apps' and 'Remove Extensions' for loading all the apps and extensions on your Mac.
Step 2. After scanning, just choose those unneeded apps and extensions and delete them in a flash.
Or You Can Manage Storage on Mac Manually with These 9 Ways, Maybe Time-Consuming
We are listing down some manual ways you can use to manage your Mac storage. However, they are time-consuming and not so effective on managing storage, so we don't recommend that. Anyway, you can still take a look at them and follow the steps.
Way 1: Default Mac Storage Management Tools in macOS Sierra
MacOS 10.12 Sierra has built-in features for Mac storage management to free up space in your MacBook. You can go to Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> Manage to see the list of options you can choose from.
- Store in iCloud
- Optimize Storage
- Empty Trash Automatically
- Reduce Clutter
Way 2: Delete System Files And Temporary Files
The operating system continuously creates system logs and cache files which are essential for the system operation and necessary for troubleshooting of any problem your mac faces. These files are of temporary nature and their purpose is time limited, but they usually don't get deleted from the system right away. These files keep piling up and eventually take up a lot of space on your Mac. Cleaning up these types of files is a good storage to manage Macbook storage.
To delete these files, you can go to the system folder location ‘~/Users/User/Library/Application Support/'. Here you can manually delete the temporary files of the application which are using a lot of space. However, manually deleting these files still run a risk of any important file being deleted. Try using Umate Mac Cleaner for this purpose.
Way 3: Clean Downloads Folder
The Downloads folder is where everything on your mac is stored and this is the largest folder on anyone's computer (Size-wise). Naturally, this is your default location and you hardly ever feel like moving files from here. After a certain time, you end up with a lot of files (which you probably don't even remember what you downloaded for) taking up more than 50 percent of your storage space. The best way is to go through this folder periodically and delete any file which is no longer required.
Way 4: Delete Time Machine Local Backups
MacOS 10.13 High Sierra comes loaded with Time Machine. A system application that creates local snapshots in case you need to restore data without the backup disk. You can delete older snapshots to free up space on your mac. Open Terminal.app from Utilities and then type the following commands
- su root
- sudo su
- tmutils listlocalsnapshots
- tmutils deletelocalsnapshots (filename)
Way 5: Remove Plugins and Extensions from Apps on Your Mac
Application plugins and web browser extensions are installed automatically in the application packages or as a part of webpage. However, you must clean these to avoid any unnecessary trouble with the system. And you also get the space of your storage cleaned up in the process. To remove extensions;
- Goto browser preferences (Safari, Chrome, Firefox).
- Find the tab labeled Extension.
- Remove unnecessary extensions from the browser.
Way 6: Remove Storage-eating or Unused Apps
Any file on your system which has not been used for a longer period of time is just eating up the storage space on your Mac. There is one quick hack to sort out what files are taking up the largest space and delete any unnecessary items. Check the Applications installed (Arrange the applications according to Size to give you a better idea about space management). Also, you can search Download folder for any unwanted and old file taking up a lot of space. App music mac. This is definitely an efficient way to manage storage on your Mac and free up more space!
Way 7: Delete Mail Attachments
The email attachments are downloaded on your Mac for viewing offline. These attachments start stacking up on your disk storage. Therefore it is a good practice to periodically delete large attachments with your mail. Search you Mail and in View, select Sort by and list the received mail according to Attachment. Select and delete unwanted mail attachments.
Way 8: Find and Delete Large Files
To manually search and delete large files, you can use the basic features of the Spotlight in your Mac.
- Open a new Finder window, press Command + F.
- In the search field, click on Kind > Other, and choose File Size.
- Select the ‘is greater than' filter and enter the file size (e.g.; 100 MB)
Way 9. Add External Storage
The mechanical spinning hard drives are getting cheaper every day, and this makes the option of carrying an external disk drive a very affordable solution. You can find a 1 TB Hard drive supported by USB 3.0 in between the range of $50 - $80, easily. By moving your large files and the files which you do not need all the time to your external storage, your storage management becomes a lot comfortable.
Final Thought
The manual space management can take up a lot of your time in digging through millions of bytes of data. Using the powerful Umate Mac Cleaner to manage storage on Macbook will do this for you in just a few clicks and your Mac becomes as good as new. So easy!
What is the Other on my iPhone storage? The Other space takes up 5.9GB memory on iPhone capacity, how can I remove it and release the space?
Switch to New iPhone
If your iPhone is running on iOS 8.3 or higher, and you want to find out 'Documents and Data' on your iPhone storage and delete them, you can move to this article: How to Delete Documents and Data on iPhone >
Symptom: Frankly I rarely cared about the free space on my iPhone until it ran out today and my iPhone warned me to release some space. The first thing that I was considering was to delete some large game Apps. But when I connected to my computer, I noticed that an 'Other' bar was consuming 5.9 GB of my iPhone's 13.57 GB. Does anyone know what the Other means on my iPhone?
What is the Other on My iPhone
The 'Other' category on your iPhone is basically the caches of all the apps, settings preferences, saved messages, voice memos, etc. There is no simple way to identify and remove data in the Other storage category. With a bit of patience, you can reduce the amount of space it takes up on your device. Follow the steps below to get started.
How to Remove the Other on My iPhone
Since the Other bothers most of iPhone users a lot, it is often asked ‘How can I remove the Other on my iPhone'. Here in this post, we will tell you how to check your iPhone storage and remove the other on your iPhone.
How to Check iPhone Storage
In case some users have no idea of checking how much storage space the Other has taken on their iPhone, we would like to introduce how to check iPhone storage first.
On your iPhone: Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, then you can see how much storage you've used as well as how much space each app occupies.
On your computer: Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes. Click the device icon on the left panel, then choose Summary. There will be a bar chart at the bottom showing how much storage has been taken on your iPhone.
Also Read: How to Fix This Accessory May Not Be Supported on iPhone iPad > Install photoshop for mac free.
How to Free Space on iPhone
Part of the iPhone 'Other' space is taken up by iOS, the operating system running on your iPhone. For this part, this is no way to reclaim the free space from that. However, the Other part of iPhone storage space also contains a sort of caches and temp files generated by App and iTunes syncs, and some of them won't be used long-term.
The size used by the Other on iPhone storage largely depends on the App you currently installed on the phone. The more caches and temp files created by Apps, the more space consumed by the Other. And of course, it may slow your iPhone down.
Clean Safari Caches
To clean iPhone safari caches, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and scroll down to find Safari. Then tap Website Data, scroll down and tap Remove all Website Data.
Clean App Caches
As we have mentioned before, app caches take the most part in iPhone 'the Other', so clean App caches regularly will save a lot of iPhone storage. However, each app has a different method of cleaning the app cache.
Generally, you can find the app cache in this way: Open any of your Apps > Find the Settings button inside the app > If this app allows you to clean caches, you will see an option says General, then tap and find Clean Caches.
Clean App Caches with PhoneClean
Another mentioned cleaning method is to restore your iPhone with an iTunes backup. But this method has a lot of defects, for example, restore your iPhone with iTunes backup will erase all the existing content; and iTunes is terribly slow and always troublesome on Windows PC. So, alternatively, you can use an iPhone Cleaner program to remove the Other files on your iPhone.
PhoneClean is an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch cleaner application, which is dedicatedly designed to free up space on iPhone; clean App cache, cookies, and history; sweep off media temp files, etc.
Firstly, go to download and install PhoneClean on your computer. There are two versions for you: Windows & Mac.
This will only work for iDevices running on iOS 8.2 and earlier.
Step 1. Launch PhoneClean, and connect your iPhone to computer via a USB cable. Select Quick Clean tab on the homepage, and tap on the Scan button.
Step 2. After the scan process is done, double click App Junks to view the app caches and app cookies on your iPhone. Select the junk files you want to delete, and then back to the result page.
How to Get Rid of Others from iPhone
Step 3. Click the Clean button to remove the Other files from your iPhone.
You May Like: Why Is My Mac So Slow and How to Fix It >
If your Mac computer is getting slow or out of storage, you can read this How to Speed up Mac in 11 Ways guide to make it run faster.
The Bottom Line
Here's all about what is the Other on my iPhone and how to remove it. You can try the above methods to save your iPhone storage. More importantly, it would be better if you form a habit of cleaning your iPhone regularly. If you have some other great ideas on clearing iPhone caches, please share it with us in the comment area.
How To Find Out What Other Is On Mac Storage Free
Product-related questions? Contact Our Support Team to Get Quick Solution >
